HP Pavilion Mini Review and Ratings

Editors’ Rating:

Our Verdict:
Though it looks more like a streaming box than a desktop, the HP Pavilion Mini offers more full-fledged PC goodness than you'll get from a Roku or Chromebox. But as with all things, the added functionality comes at a price. Read More…

What We Liked…

Tiny size

Plenty of storage

Looks good

Runs quietly

What We Didn’t…

Only fair performance

Limited upgradeability

A nano receiver for the keyboard and mouse would have been nice

HP Pavilion Mini Review

Table of Contents

Introduction & Features

Home theater PCs (HTPCs) don't get as much buzz as they used to, partly because streaming boxes and dongles provide as much functionality as many consumers are looking for. But mini PCs have never been more popular, whether they're business desktops like Lenovo's ThinkCentre M83, do-it-yourself kits like Intel's NUC series, or small office/home office solutions like Apple's Mac Mini.

Now HP has stepped up with the most consumer-friendly mini yet—or rather, a cross between a compact desktop and an HTPC. The Pavilion Mini can be a dual-monitor desk workstation (it has both HDMI and DisplayPort outputs), but it's most likely to be plugged into an HDTV via the former port while a family gathers around, using the included wireless keyboard and mouse to control the rig.

HP offers three versions of its cereal-bowl-shaped computer. The Stream Mini ($179) is a Web-kiosk cousin to the company's Stream 11 and 13 laptops, with just 2GB of RAM and 32GB of solid-state storage; it's a Windows 8.1 alternative to a Chromebox.

Design

The Pavilion Mini is attractive enough to leave visible in your entertainment center and small enough to tuck away if you don't want it to be. Though it's significantly larger than a Roku, its squarish shape with rounded edges almost makes it look like one on steroids. Dark gray on top and white around the sides, the Mini measures just 2.1 by 5.7 by 5.7 inches and weighs about 1.5 pounds.

"Understated" is a good word to describe the Pavilion Mini's design. An HP logo is emblazoned at the top of the case, shining in the middle of the otherwise matte grey top. At the front of the case, you'll find a white power button with a small white LED fitting flush in the case, with two of the system's USB 3.0 ports to the left of it and the Hewlett-Packard name just above it. On the right side of the system, you'll find a 3-in-1 card reader, while the other side is mostly bare, with the exception of an Intel sticker.

Moving to the rear of the case, you'll find some vents for cooling and a slot for a security lock near the top, with the remainder of the Pavilion Mini's wired connections just below them, recessed a bit into the case. Moving from left to right, these include a combined headphone/microphone audio jack, an Ethernet port for wired network connections, two additional USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI port, one DisplayPort, and the port for the power adapter. Additional wireless connectivity options include 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (alas, no 5GHz 802.11ac) and Bluetooth 4.0.

As a case this small obviously has no space available for an internal power supply unit, power is provided by a 45-watt external adapter of the type you'd expect to get with a laptop. Just as obviously, the Pavilion Mini comes with no optical drive nor any room to add one. On the plus side, though, the system's hard drive is pretty generously sized, with 1TB of space being more than we would have expected to find. In an ideal world, such a system would come equipped with a solid-state drive. But as a decent 1TB SSD can cost almost as much as this entire PC does, we can understand the decision to go with a 5,400rpm SATA drive instead.

Features

As far as system memory goes, the HP comes with 4GB of DDR3 RAM occupying one of its two slots, leaving you one slot available that you can use to upgrade the system to a total of 8GB. And while some may shy away from the prospect of opening up such a small system to upgrade it, it's actually surprisingly easy.

To get into the case, you start by (after unplugging it) flipping it upside down and gently pulling back on the rubber cover that hides the case screws. In doing so, be careful not to try to pull the cover completely away, as it stays attached at one side.

Once you've opened the cover, grab your screwdriver and remove the three small screws holding the white part of the case in place. Then just lift the plastic cover off, and you'll have access to the mounting bracket for the hard drive, allowing you to potentially upgrade that drive to an SSD at some point in the future (perhaps as prices come down). And getting to the system memory isn't any harder, requiring the removal of just the four longer black screws holding the bracket in place. Pop in a memory upgrade, if desired, and you're good to go.

All that said, the average consumer will probably just use the system as is until it outlives its usefulness and then move onto another one—something we imagine HP (like most PC makers) is counting on and prefers.

Also included with the Pavilion Mini are a wireless keyboard and mouse, with both using the same USB receiver. While this receiver isn't huge and can be put into one of the rear USB 3.0 ports to hide it away, we would have preferred to go with a tiny nano receiver for a system like this one. Neither the keyboard nor the mouse was particularly high-end, but both were functional. Missing, we felt, was a remote control along the lines of the one Apple offers for the Mac Mini. Its omission wasn't unforgivable, of course. But it would have been a nice touch.

As far as software goes, the Pavilion Mini comes, as expected, with Windows 8.1 and, as a consumer system, a fair amount of bloatware. Luckily, HP didn't go too nuts with this, though most users may wish to spend a half hour uninstalling some apps early in their time with the system. Finally, the unit is covered by a one-year limited hardware warranty and 90 days of limited software tech support. If that's not enough, rest assured that HP will be happy to sell you one of its Care Packs, extending the warranty to as much as three years of coverage.